Happy Warriors

Believe it or not, the Warriors were pretty upbeat after folding down the stretch. And they should’ve been. It was a heck of a ride. They rose from nowhere, against all odds, to become a pretty good team. They were fun to watch, they were competitive, and they were compelling. A lot of good things happened to the Warriors franchise this season. And losing the way they did might hurt just enough to prevent them from being satisfied.
Here’s what they had to say after the game:

Don Nelson
“Like I said, there will be no teary eyes in our locker room. We had a fantastic year and I’m real proud of that team. We competed hard tonight, as hard as we could …”

“Over the hump? I think we are over the hump. The hump was not making the playoffs for the last 12 years, are you kidding me. I don’t know what over the hump is. If we didn’t get over the hump this year something’s wrong.”

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Jason Richardson
“We definitely had a great season. Just three months ago, we were being counted out of the playoffs and we made it to the second round wih a short roster, guys being hurt, and dealing with the trade. I mean we had a lot to be proud of this season.”

Stephen Jackson
“Utah was the better team this series. You know, we’ve got to give them credit point blank. They beat us up inside. They did what they needed to do to win this series. They were the better team and they showed it. Point blank. No need for us to be bitter, we had a great year. A lot of y’all said we wouldn’t be here right now. We are here. We had a great year, everybody’s still upbeat. Everybody’s happy with the way our season went and at the same time we give credit to Utah, because they played a great game.”

“I think everybody’s going to use this as ammunition. We’re going to come back next year ready. Everybody’s going to get healthy and we’re going to try to do the same thing next year, just have a longer season. But you know I love all my teammates. I’m happy with the energy we brought. Everything we’ve done in the short season I’ve been here three months. We’re definitely happy. We’re not satisfied. We’re definitely going to be ready next year.”

Marcus Thompson

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Hey Marcus. Is it safe to say that they Warriors are the best team in California now? It doesn’t mean much, but it’s a huge step forward.

Andrew Rosenblum

E.J., I think it’s safe to say that the Warriors are the best team in “the Golden State” for the first time in almost 30 years. The Kings are in serious decline, particularly if the new coach can’t turn around Bibby. The Clippers underachieved bizarrely this season, and now have lost Livingston indefinitely. Given the Magette friction, and the fact that Kaman became the worst post-contract year bust since Jerome James, I think they’ll have to fire Dunleavy next season, or else break up their team.

And the Lakers — ha! There are all these pie-in-the-sky theories floating around down here in L.A. about how the Lakers will get Garnett, particularly since Kobe will only be at his peak for another 2-3 years, yet these speculators never get around to explaining who the Lakers would dangle to tempt McHale to surrender his all-everything forward. Their desperation makes them sound like Warriors fans from years past!

The Lakers are basically stuck in mediocrity, not good enough to contend, not bad enough to draft well. I really think Mitch Kupchak blew it this trade deadline when he supposedly could have dealt Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd. Kidd, Bryant, and Odom would make a promising triangle nucleus — but Bryant, Walton, an injured Odom, Smush Parker, an immature Bynum, and the depressive Kwame Brown…we all know how that worked out.

So yes, on to the off-season. The Warriors have a load of talent, a sense of optimism, and a need for more size. Looking forward to it!

EJ

I say we trade up in the draft to get Horford. Maggette would’ve also been a great fit for us.

manhattanproj

Blog question: “if you are kg and minny decides to let you go, finally, which team would you choose? Dallas, Lakers (get a chance to play with the best player in this era), or the Warriors? Lakers is probably the most logical choice because with him, the Kobe-KG combo can be pretty devastating and win a championship. What do you think?